The silent superstar

Seth Doria

When the Los Angeles Clippers make the first selection in tonight's NBA college draft, chances are the name commissioner David Stern reads out will belong to Mike Bibby.

The former UA point guard, who was instrumental in bringing UA its first ever national championship his freshman year, has been called by scouts from around the league the best bet in a draft with no sure things.

And though he is leaving school after just two years, most insiders expected that would be the case when Bibby first signed on to play for head coach Lute Olson.

Pretty much everything that can be said or written about Bibby has been, despite the fact he hasn't been available for comment since announcing his decision to leave school.

But as much hype as Bibby will get tonight, most Arizona fans never really got attached to him. To a lot of fans, he was just a rent-a-star who had his eyes on the pros from day one.

Not that Bibby wasn't one of the greatest players to ever come through the program, and publicly he always seemed like a nice enough guy, but Arizona fans will most likely be happiest when they hear Michael Dickerson is finally a professional basketball player.

Of the three UA players expected to be drafted tonight, Miles Simon being the third, Dickerson most embodied what college athletics, and more importantly, Arizona athletics, should be all about.

Always quiet in public and straight-forward with the press, Dickerson has one of the sweetest shooting strokes in the game, is an excellent defender and is extremely durable, having played in 92 consecutive games to finish his career.

Just as important in these days of turbulent player-coach relations, Dickerson, a devoutly religious man, has also always been a model citizen, never once drawing a suspension due to grades or breaking team rules.

Not that Miles Simon deserves any less credit for his days in Tucson-the game winning shot against Cincinnati coupled with his performance in the Final Four two years ago will forever etch him in the memories of Wildcat faithful-but Dickerson has that "good guy" feel about him. That same feel makes him the kind of player fans will defend, even after a poor performance.

I never heard anyone defend Simon, and Bibby rarely needed defending, but Dickerson was the kind of guy fans feel for, the kind of guy the fans can identify with.

The only problem is that fans from outside of the Pac-10 don't know how good Dickerson is.

Fans from Houston and Orlando, two teams which have shown a great deal of interest in drafting Dickerson, may not understand they are getting a potential all-star who, with good coaching, could become the same kind of player as Scottie Pippen or Clyde Drexler.

The reason for this general ignorance about Dickerson's talents probably arises from the fact he did not sparkle offensively in either of the Wildcats' last two NCAA Tournaments. With Simon and Bibby on the team, Dickerson's tenacious defense on Ron Mercer in the championship game win over Kentucky went overlooked by most. Hell, even Josh Pastner received more attention than the man who led the Wildcats in scoring the past two years.

ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas summed up Dickerson's reputation when he wrote "Dickerson knows how to score, and he can go one-on-one with anyone. He is also an underrated defender who can move his feet and muscle you ... but he needs to improve his ball skills and show more of a killer instinct."

In other words, he has all the tools, but needs time and good coaching to develop into a top-flight NBA star.

Dickerson, projected to go in the middle of the first round, should at least get a good coach, as Chuck Daly's Orlando Magic and Rudy Tomjanovich's Houston Rockets own all but one pick between Detroit at No. 11 and Milwaukee at No. 19. Between them, Daly and Tomjanovich have won the only four championships not taken by the Bulls through the last 10 years. Minnesota, coached by the up and coming Flip Saunders, owns pick No. 17.

Either way, Dickerson, only a third-team All-America selection this year, will succeed.

Anyone who has seen him without a shirt on can tell he spends quite a bit of time in the weight room and anyone who has had the fortune to talk to him knows he has the intelligence, determination and maturity to compete with the best players in the world.

All he needs is a chance, and tonight he'll find out who will give it to him.

Seth Doria is Sports Editor for the Arizona Summer Wildcat.